Picture Perfect
by onlyonceinforever
Summary: Life in the O'Reily household was far from perfect...But what if it had been? Ryan reflects on things that will never be. :ONESHOT:


**Disclaimer: I own the B+ I somehow managed to get on my Spanish midterm, and that's about it.**

**A/N: All right, so I don't actually watch Oz, nor will I until I move out of my house after I'm 18, so forgive the inaccuracies. Oh, and I had this idea for a fic where Ryan called an older sister the day Cyril was going to be executed and went off that. Then in a transcript I found a reference to a sister and practically threw myself a party. Given, she's supposed to be dead, but...Yeah. Enjoy!**

**Picture Perfect**

It was another normal day in the life of Erin O'Reily. Her alarm went off considerably earlier than she would have liked, and was then ignored. The high school student was soundly back asleep when someone poked her repeatedly in the side.

"Erin, Mommy says it's time to get up."

Erin groaned and rolled over, only to be poked again.

"Eriiiiiiiin..."

"All right, I'm up, I'm up." She yawned and stretched groggily before throwing back the covers. A flick of the light-switch revealed a small blonde boy with a wide grin plastered on his young face.

"Morning!" he said cheerfully, throwing his arms around Erin's waist.

"Yeah..." Erin mumbled. Then louder: "Hey, sport!"

Cyril beamed up at her and reached his arms up, indicating he wanted to be held.

"Don't you think you're getting a bit old for this?" Erin asked, knowing full well what the response would be.

"Nope!" Cyril continued to smile happily.

"All right, all right." Erin rolled her eyes playfully and picked up the boy, who cheered in delight. Together they made their way down the hall, stopping in front of the bathroom door. "All right, buddy. End of the line."

"Aw..." Cyril pouted as he was placed back on the ground.

"We'll play more when I get home, okay?" Cyril nodded sadly. "Hey. Who loves you, man?"

"You do."

"That's right. Now go bother your brother."

"All right!" Cyril's face lit up. Erin grinned as she observed him running down the hallway and stairs to the kitchen.

When Erin returned to her room, she began to dig through a drawer for clothes to wear that day. Upon finding nothing satisfactory, she moved on to the closet, where a blur of color jumped out at her.

"Rar!" An elementary school-sized figure wrapped itself around Erin's legs enthusiastically.

"Jesus Christ!" Erin jumped a few inches in the air. "Ryan, what have I told you about doing that!" Ryan beamed up at her mischievously.

"Nothing."

"Crap. That's right, I didn't." Erin paused, looking down at the mussed head of brown hair attached to the boy around her waist. "Don't do that again, okay?"

Ryan nodded, a sly grin playing on his lips. "Uh huh."

"All right, good boy. Now go eat and let me get ready for school, okay, sport?"

"Okay," he squeezed Erin's waist once before letting go. When he stood there expectantly, Erin ignored him and turned back to her closet. Upon turning around again, she said in mock surprise:

"Oh, are you still here?"

"Mmhmm." Ryan blinked up at her expectantly.

"Hm." Erin headed to the drawer again.

"Eriiiin!" Ryan whined.

"Ryaaaaan," Erin whined back.

"Hug meee." Erin quickly covered the smile that crossed her face as she faced him.

"So that's what you want, huh?"

"Uh huh."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Eh, all right." She kneeled down to his level and pulled him into a hug. When they broke apart, Ryan promptly suck a stuffed T-Rex in Erin's face. Erin blinked.

"Yes?"

"Hug him, too."

"Mm, all right. But just this once." She took the green plushie from Ryan's hands and did as he commanded. "There ya go."

Ryan beamed.

"I love you," he said in an impossibly innocent voice that completely betrayed his typical demeanor.

"I love you, too. Now go eat breakfast, all right, sport?"

"All right!"

"All right. Go." Erin smiled and mussed Ryan's hair. When he stayed a moment longer, she nudged him gently. "Go!"

He skirted out of the room, dinosaur in hand. Erin watched him down the stairs, making sure he wasn't doubling back, smiling widely. It really was impossible not to love those kids.

After Erin finished getting ready for school, she followed the path that her two younger brothers had taken before her down the stairs to the kitchen. She sat down at the table, where a full meal of pancakes, eggs, toast, and orange juice was waiting for her.

"Hello, sweetie," Erin, Ryan, and Cyril's mother kissed her daughter on the cheek, placing a container of maple syrup on the table as well.

"Hi, Mom," Erin grinned and hugged her mother. Ryan, having witnessed the exchange, ran over immediately, wanting to get in on the love.

Eventually, all three children were seated at the table, eating.

"And then-" chew chew chew "-Billy kicked the-" Ryan shoveled another forkful of pancake in his mouth and continued speaking. "-gooshnachouk-"

"Ryan, darling, don't talk with your mouth full," Mrs. O'Reily commented as she put the finishing touches on the kid's bagged lunches.

"The boy's just enthusiastic," her husband entered the fray, newspaper in hand. "He should be able to talk when he wants to." Mrs. O'Reily smiled knowingly and refrained from comment.

"Daddy!" Cyril and Ryan both leapt up from their seats to hug their father eagerly.

"Well, hello there!" Seamus looked down at their heads in mock surprise.

"Hi!" the boys chorused, grinning widely. The sight couldn't help but put a smile on everyone's faces.

"And hello to you," Once he was released, Seamus greeted his daughter with a peck on the top of her head.

"Hi, Daddy," Erin grinned, standing to gather her school materials. "May I take your car to school today? I have a conference after school in Ashworth that I'd rather not ask you to drive me to."

"Ashworth, huh? Well, I don't see why not." he handed the teen the keys to the green Jeep that was parked in the driveway.

"Thanks, Daddy! You're the best!" Erin exclaimed, standing on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his cheek before hurrying off the the bathroom to brush her teeth.

A few minutes later, she was ready to leave.

"Okay, bye everyone!" she called, pretending to make her way out the door.

"Eriiiiiiiin!" Both her younger brothers came running after the girl in question and attached themselves to each of her legs.

"Guys, I really have to get to school now," she pleaded, knowing it was futile.

"I don't wanna!" Ryan protested in his little-kid way.

"But I haveta." Erin peeled the boys off of her and hugged them both. "I love you guys."

"Love you, too!" the answer came perfectly timed. Erin smiled before standing up again and calling her goodbyes to their parents. "See you tonight!" Before either of the younger O'Reily siblings decided to latch onto her again, Erin exited the house. Cyril and Ryan ran to the window to watch her climb into the car and pull away, knowing she would be back to play with them soon enough...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere deep within the heart of Oswald State Penitentiary, Ryan O'Reily's eyes snapped open. What was he doing? Ryan rubbed his tired eyes vigorously, attempting to rid himself of the thoughts that had passed through his mind not minutes before. Nothing was like that. Nothing ever had been like that, and nothing would ever be like that.

No, the childhood of the O'Reily siblings was far from the white-picket-fence scenario the inmate had pictured. Erin, the eldest, was dead, and the other two were incarcerated, one scheduled for execution in the coming weeks. Life growing up had never been even remotely close to picture perfect, as Ryan knew all too well. Seamus, their deadbeat of a father - if you could ever call him that - had never cared much about any of his children, and believed to a very high extent in corporeal punishment, even when nothing wrong had been done. He was drunk a lot, as Ryan recalled with an angry twitch of his lip.

No, life in the O'Reily household was never that perfect and peaceful. There was always some argument of some kind going on, and more often than not, things breaking and people screaming. But if he could hold onto that picture perfect scene, maybe things would be better...

**Ick, I'm not a fan of the ending, but that's all I could come up with. If you took the time to read it, please leave a review if you feel so inclined. Thanks!**


End file.
